A bone belonging to a rare but well-known dinosaur was discovered in southern Utah and has paleontologists excited about its discovery.
Utah State Parks reported that paleoartist Brian Engh unearthed a 6-foot, 7-inch humerus bone belonging to a rare 30-ton Brachiosaurus last May at a site in the southern Utah desert. The team that extracted the bone included paleontologists from the Utah Field House of Natural History State Park Museum in Vernal, Utah, and Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, California.
To protect it, the exact location is not revealed.
The recovered bone, the humerus, is the bone of the upper arm and leg of this imposing creature. This is only the third Brachiosaurus humerus ever found and the first in Utah, according to Utah State Parks.
Paleontologists adding plaster to protective jacket placed around Brachiosaurus bone found in southern Utah, October 2019 | Photo by Brian Engh, courtesy of Utah State Parks, St. George News
It’s an exciting find, John Foster, curator of collections at Utah Field House, told St. George News on Wednesday.
“This is the first (Brachiosaurus) humerus found in more than 60 years and it is also in very good condition,” Foster said.
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The first Brachiosaurus humerus was found in 1900 in Grand Junction, Colorado, and the second was found in 1955. The 2019 find is the most complete of the three.
The giraffe-like Brachiosaurus is distinguished by its long front legs, deep chest, and long neck. It is a cousin of other sauropods (large, long-necked dinosaurs) such as Brontosaurus and Diplodocus.
According to LiveScience.com, it’s unclear how big the dinosaur was, but some estimates put it at more than 80 feet long and between 40 and 50 feet tall. Brachiosaurus was also declared to be the largest dinosaur ever found, but other sauropods are now believed to have been larger and heavier.
Foster said Brachiosaurus was particularly rare for the time period it inhabited, and it is estimated that other dinosaurs, such as the much more common Camarasaurus, outnumbered it by a ratio of 20 to 1. More than 200 specimens of it have been found. Camarasaurus in what is called the Morrison Formation, while only 10 known specimens of Brachiosaurus have been found so far.
According to the National Park Service, the Morrison Formation is a rock unit that covers the Late Jurassic period, between 155 and 148 million years ago. It extends throughout the western United States and contains a large number of fossils. In addition to Brachiosaurus and Camarasaurus, fossil remains of Stegosaurus, Allosaurus, Diplodocus and other dinosaurs have also been found in the formation.
A representation of what a Brachiosaurus might have looked like. | Art by Brian Engh, courtesy of Utah State Parks, St. George News
Another reason the find has paleontologists excited is that it’s a rare opportunity to find a Brachiosaurus fossil in the wild, Foster said. The only places you can see the other recovered fossils is in a museum.
“It’s hard not to get excited about this,” Foster said.
After obtaining the proper permits in October, paleontologists were able to extract the Brachiosaurus bone from where it was discovered.
The fossilized bone was covered with plaster and burlap to immobilize it within the sand, earth and shale that covered it. He was dragged into a utility wagon and then carried from the remote site through rugged terrain by the Clydesdale horse team of Darla and Molly, led by Wes and Resha Bartlett of Naples, Utah, according to Utah State Parks.
Paleontology team poses with plaster-encased Brachiosaurus bone, southern Utah, October 2019 | Photo by Brian Engh, courtesy of Utah State Parks, St. George News
In addition to the humerus of Brachiosaurus, which is believed to have been located on the dinosaur’s right front leg, the more fragmentary left humerus was found eroding into a nearby ravine, and several fragments of ribs and other bones were collected from the same area.
There are additional finds at the Brachiosaurus site that paleontologists plan to return to and investigate in the near future, Foster said.
For now, the Brachiosaurus bone is being prepared at the Utah Field House of National History, 496 E. Main St. in Vernal, where it became available for public viewing Thursday.
The location of the Brachiosaurus find is left vague to protect the integrity of the site for future excavations by paleontologists.
Paleontology team with plaster-covered Brachiosaurus bone, southern Utah, October 2019 | Photo by Brian Engh, courtesy of Utah State Parks, St. George News
Paleontology team poses with plaster-encased Brachiosaurus bone, southern Utah, October 2019 | Photo by Brian Engh, courtesy of Utah State Parks, St. George News
Paleontologists adding plaster to protective jacket placed around Brachiosaurus bone found in southern Utah, October 2019 | Photo by Brian Engh, courtesy of Utah State Parks, St. George News
Clydesdale horses were used to help transport the recovered Brachiosaurus bone from the rugged area where it was discovered by paleoartist Brian Engh, southern Utah, October 2019 | Photo by Brian Engh, courtesy of Utah State Parks, St. George News
Clydesdale horses were used to help transport the recovered Brachiosaurus bone from the rugged area where it was discovered by paleoartist Brian Engh, southern Utah, October 2019 | Photo by Brian Engh, courtesy of Utah State Parks, St. George News
Clydesdale horses were used to help transport the recovered Brachiosaurus bone from the rugged area where it was discovered by paleoartist Brian Engh, southern Utah, October 2019 | Photo by Brian Engh, courtesy of Utah State Parks, St. George News
Brian Engh poses with plaster-encased Brachiosaurus bone, southern Utah, October 2019 | Photo by Brian Engh, courtesy of Utah State Parks, St. George News
A representation of what a Brachiosaurus might have looked like. Bone included to compare sizes. | Art by Brian Engh, courtesy of Utah State Parks, St. George News
A representation of what a Brachiosaurus might have looked like. | Art by Brian Engh, courtesy of Utah State Parks, St. George News
Brachiosaurus leg bone encased in plaster before being removed from large site, southern Utah, October 2019 | Photo by Brian Engh, courtesy of Utah State Parks, St. George News
A representation of what a Brachiosaurus might have looked like. | Art by Brian Engh, courtesy of Utah State Parks, St. George News
